Many surgical patients will return for additional surgery. This is particularly acute in orthopedics, especially spine surgery. ((a) Fritsch E., Heisel J., et al. Spine 1996 Mar. 1; 21(5):626-33. (b) Malter A., McNeney B., et al. Spine 1998 Apr. 1; 23(7): 814-20. (c) Zheng F., Cammisa F., et al. Spine 2002; 27(8): 818-24.)
Secondary surgeries are challenging because bony landmarks have often been removed (as with a laminectomy) and dense adherent scar tissue may have formed that needs to be removed from underlying structures. The subsequent surgery can take significantly longer (60 minutes or more) as the surgeon carefully removes any dense adherent tissues and slowly finds his way with aid of the remaining anatomical landmarks. See, e.g., McKinley D., Shaffer L. Neurol Res. 1999; 21 Suppl 1:S67-71. Challenging surgeries can put the patient at additional risk, increasing the chance of complications such as infection, spinal cord or nerve root damage, and dural tears. (Eichholz K., Ryken T., Neurosurg. Focus 2003 Sep 15: 15(3); E1.).
The surgery market is in need of a system that helps the surgeon manage any dense adherent tissue formation and facilitate the surgical navigation to quickly obtain the appropriate surgical exposure while protecting delicate tissues, such as, for example, the dura and nerve roots.